Zane Merrick
Zane Merrick
Zane is a talkative and confident Half-Elf Bard who enjoys life and keeps a calm and humorous demeanor. He has a seedy past and repressed guilt and trauma, but he keeps a sunny demeanor, often pulling elaborate pranks and scams on his friends and party members for fun.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Zane grew up in a small family with his parents and a younger brother named Seth. Their parents were thieves in a large and dangerous organization of thieves and murderers. They managed to pay for schooling for young Zane and Seth, but only basic schooling, as they were betrayed and killed after accidentally screwing up a job. When they died, Zane was 9, and Seth was 6. Zane had no inclination to avenge them however, as he saw it as their fault. After all, with two kids at home, why would you want to work with killers? He simply saw it as stupidity, getting themselves wrapped up in that end of the business, and vowed to never work with those types of people. He understands stealing, but murder crosses a line. Regardless, he grew up fast, and found he had a knack for separating fools and their money, usually through tricking and cheating rather than just taking it. He saved up enough money at one point to take lessons with certain instruments, another thing he excelled at, though his brother was much less skilled at their work. Seth simply wanted to rise above the shame and squalor of their existence, so he didn’t have to take from others. He saw stealing as a means to an end, a temporary measure while he and Zane rebuild their lives. Zane appreciated this ideology, but never put much stock into it, until he was 16. On Zane’s 16th birthday Seth showed him the plans for a huge job he had come up with as a surprise. Zane was to distract a Noblewoman while Seth pretended to steal from her carriage. Zane would point this out, and Seth would run down the street where a friend was to pick him up and carry him out of there. While they were chasing Seth, Zane was to hop on the carriage, push the driver off, and drive the carriage safely back to their camp. Zane was nervous about the shaky plan, but went through with it, because he trusted his brother. The problem was, Seth’s friend never showed up. The getaway driver got cold feet, and didn’t tell them, so they went through with the plan. With nowhere to go, Seth panicked and ran into the woods nearby. Zane saw Seth disappear into the trees, and saw two guards go after him. Zane ditched the carriage and ran after his brother, but arrived just in time to see a large guard run him through with a sword. The other guard panicked, and ran off, but the big one, the killer, he just went through the boys pockets to look for the stolen goods. Zane was overwhelmed by rage and grief, he unsheathed the sword he bought for intimidation, and charged the guard. The guard hadn’t noticed him until then, and was completely blindsided. Zane stabbed him to death right then and there, the first life he had ever taken. He never lost his sense of humor and talkative nature, but after these events it became more of a coping mechanism for his grief and insecurities. He was so broken up over the death of his brother, he decided to dedicate himself to his mission. He would make something of himself, and he would do it for his brother.
Roguish bard living in the Kingdom of Veteria, determined to make his fortune and have fun doing it.
Character Location
Alignment
Chaotic Good
Age
23
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Green
Hair
Brown, Messy
Height
5'6"
Weight
125 lbs
Hunt for Frost Troll
8th of January, 1607
I was hired by the Thieves Guild to investigate the mayor of a small town in southern Norria. I obtained work at the local tavern/inn, and I was hired by the mayor to investigate the disappearance of a young couple that lived in the woods near the mountain. I soon met the rest of my adventuring party in the Inn. There was Aerdak, a large quiet druid, Ikari, a Tiefling Monk with amnesia, Nihlus, a powerful sorcerer with a dark past, Takinom, a cynical Tiefling warlock, Linea Nightshade, an alcoholic ranger, Torgrin, a Goliath with a strong sense of honor, and Lyra Weathermore, a cleric with a dark side. I decided to challenge a few of them to a game of dice, to gauge their abilities better, and Torgrin, Nihlus and Ikari all joined. My loaded dice came in handy, and I won the game, but Ikari caught on and extorted me under threat of selling me out, which started a rivalry between us.
When we set out on the adventure, I talked to Nihlus and Takinom, and we got along rather well. I got along worse with Ikari, and Lyra asked lots of questions which aroused suspicion as to what I was doing there. Nonetheless, nothing was found out and my new friends Nihlus and Takinom backed me up. Torgrin was a huge goliath so I mostly stayed out of his way, but he caught me sizing up Ikari's coin purse, and I quickly promised him I would not steal from my own party, which he was pleased with (intelligence was not his strong suit). Eventually we made camp, and I was in a tent with Takinom. I used my magic to cause a bit of chaos is Ikari's tent, and he used his magic to conjure a massive glowing middle finger in my tent. We hurled small annoying spells at each other all night, much to the party's annoyance. Still, I was impressed with Ikari's mischievous spirit. Late at night Aerdak and Linea yelled that wolves were descending on us, so we all fought them. Aerdak put in most of the work, as he turned into a bear and killed two wolves. Torgrin cleaved a wolf in half down the middle, which told me that I made the right decision staying out of his way. A wolf lunged at me, and I made short work of it with my rapier Lament.
In the morning, we set out again. Linea was complaining of a hangover, so I bottled some water from a stream and sold it to her for a gold piece, telling her it was an "anti-hangover potion". We soon came to a cave, and a small group of wolves attacked us. Takinom blew one to pieces with a large blast of energy, and when a wolf lunged to attack me, Ikari intercepted it and killed it with his bare fists. I thanked him, and we fought off the rest with little issue. We continued through the cave to a frozen pond, and while crossing a massive monster tore through the ice and almost killed Aerdak, sending him flying into an ice wall. Me and Lyra healed him, and after a fierce battle Lyra's eyes began to glow black, and she used powerful and terrifying magic to kill the beast while chanting in a language I wasn't familiar with. We all healed up and continued on.
We came to a large dark cavern, and since Ikari could see in the dark I came up with a plan where I would turn Ikari invisible and send him in to scout. He came back and told us there were frost trolls, so we entered the room and began a difficult battle. There were two massive frost trolls, and they charged us. Nihlus used powerful magic to fend one of them off and injure it, and Takinom was injured by a large rock thrown by the largest troll. Before the troll could charge and kill him, I summoned all my strength to cast an illusion of a massive wall of fire between us. It gave the team enough time to gather themselves, and when the smallest troll broke through the wall Ikari stunned it with a powerful strike to the forehead, and Torgrin hacked off the monster's head with his massive sword. Nihlus noticed a small cavern behind the beast with an unconscious woman and a young troll. He teleported into the room and killed the troll with a massive fireball, and he stayed there to protect the woman. Linea shot the large troll in the eye with an arrow, and while it was distracted Takinom fired a blast at its stomach, which caused it to lean forward. I lunged forward and plunged Lament up through the monster's mouth, slaying it. We rescued the woman, and I noticed a large sum of gold in the room surrounded by large bones. Me, Takinom, Nihlus, and Linea all took some gold, which was cursed by a dragon.
When we got back to the town, we were given our reward, and I decided to purchase a property on the outskirts of town with Nihlus and Takinom, as roommates. I realized that I still needed to get information on the mayor, so along with purchasing a spot in town I also made plans to break into his house. I said goodbye to Linea, Ikari, Torgrin and Lyra, as they all decided to leave town now that the business was over. I gave Ikari a gold piece as a gesture of goodwill as we parted, though it was cursed gold (I got the last laugh).
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